Pure classes revamp instead of 4th spec - Arcane Mage

There are lots of topics on the forums discussing possible 4th specs for existing classes in the next expansion. Meanwhile GC tweeted that he's concerned with hunter and rogue spec diversity and stated that the devs consider combo point system (and thus various secondary resources) a better class design. In MoP mage specs have become too similar to each other, especially with their lv75 and lv90 talents. On the other hand, warlocks have been redesigned for MoP and achieved great results. I remember reading the commentary (GC's?) about MoP warlocks - that the devs like the new design and want to see how it'll play out, with its different resource systems among specs and especially rogue-like mana/energy, burning embers/combo points of Destro.

So maybe they're thinking of revamping the remaining pure classes in the next expansion, warlock-style? All mage specs could use some lift up, but the most troublesome is no doubt Arcane. Since its complete revamp in WotLK it has been reworked nearly every major patch. Judging by its popularity in MoP only due to cheesing the mechanics with Scorch-weaving and the general lack of interest to the spec after Scorch removal, I'd say the first mage spec to receive an overhaul is Arcane. So here are my thoughts on how to make it more interesting.

Arcane

Instead of generic debuff, Arcane should have a proper secondary resource in Arcane Charge (AC). Maximum 4 AC, build up by Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles, spent by other arcane spells. Consider lv75 and lv90 mage talents replaced with completely new ones.

Arcane Blast - gives 1 AC, 2 if it crits.Arcane Charge - increases damage and mana cost of your arcane spells, maximum 4 AC.Arcane Missiles - a proc, gives 1 AC, costs no mana, maximum 2 procs.Arcane Barrage - has no cooldown, spends 1 AC per cast, can be cast with no AC, puts a 3 second Overwhelming Power buff on you that increases Arcane Barrage damage by 15%, stacks 3 times.Mana Gem - no longer creates a gem in your bags, but spends all remaining AC to restore x% mana per charge.Evocation - instantly grants 15% mana and 1 AC and also 45% mana and 3 AC over 3 seconds, 2 min cd.Temporal Rift (new) - 2.5 second cast, creates a temporal rift to deal massive single-target damage, costs 4 AC and a lot of mana, 15 sec cooldown, no cooldown if used against a target with <20% health.Arcane Explosion - your Arcane Barrage, Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles create Arcane Explosion on impact (AM explodes for each of its missile waves), but cost 25% more mana, 10 second duration, 10 second cooldown.Nether Tempest (new) - 2 second cast, deals damage to all targets in 10 yd zone over 8 seconds and applies Slow debuff, 12 second cooldown, replaces Flamestrike.Arcane Power - instantly grants maximum Arcane Charge and keeps it at maximum for 15 seconds, you can't cast Mana Gem while Arcane Power is active.Arcane Instability (new) - passive, reduces the mana cost of spells by 30% if they critically hit.Arcane Repulsion (new) - your next Arcane Barrage will knockback and daze its target for 6 seconds or your next Evocation will reflect all spells while chanelled, 30 second cooldown.Slow - Reduces target's movement speed by 50%, and increases casting time by 50% (25% on player targets) for 15 sec. Mastery: Arcane Charge (new) - increases additional damage provided by Arcane Charge and mana per AC provided by Mana Gem.

On first glance I like most of it, there is s decent mix of simplicity and complexity. What I don't like is having an execute option which is just meh for me personally. What I like a lot is the Explosion change. I'll comment a bit more later when the discussion gets going.

I defintely like the Arcane Explosion idea. Always hated the fact that as an Arcane Mage I had to stand so close to my target to hit it with Arcane Explosion.

Overall, your design is pretty awesome. I like your idea of Temporal Rift, but it sounds more like an AoE attack to me. Maybe an AoE Slow, slowing down time for affected targets and thus slowing their movement speed, attack speed and castspeed by 50% in the process and inflicting damage to any target caught inside. Maybe combine it with Nether Tempest to, instead of putting the Rift in a certain area, it now can be placed on a target and anyone within range will be affected by the rift. This way, it's also effective against moving targets.

Personally, I think Arcane Missiles should serve as the execute. It would remain a proc that costs no mana, but it no longer generates charges. As the proc, it can be used with all amounts of AC, increasing the damage accordingly. When the target goes below 20% health, it won't proc anymore, but instead it can be used as a 'finisher' with 4 AC. The 15 second cooldown would come into play here. Maybe this cooldown could be changed to make it work in a (ABx4, ArcBx1)x2 ABx4, AMx1 rotation - effectively giving Arcane Mages a haste cap. Arcane Power would allow Arcane Missiles to be used as a 'finisher' regardless of the target's health, in addition to giving you the maximum charges and keeping in at the maximum for 15 seconds, allowing a 15 second Arcane Missiles spam for massive damage.

The Mana Gem idea is pretty good, but would it have a cooldown and how much mana would it restore? 10% per charge? This would give Arcane Mages an unlimited amount of mana and would allow for a 100-60% burn phase, ABx4, Mana Gem, 100-60% burn phase rotation. The idea is interesting, but I never really liked the burnphase element of Arcane Mages.

Unless you make Arcane Mages like Rogues completely and would make it less effective to keep casting AB once you have 4 AC and it would be better to use Arcane Barrage as a finisher. Then I could see Mana Gem working. Still, what would that mean for Fire and Frost? Would it simply only change for Arcane?

I have to be honest, this is pretty exciting. I'd love to play Arcane like this.

Mages are currently the only class that doesn't have a real Resource at all.
Until MoP you had to keep an eye on your Mana, in Classic and TBC good Mages were able to keep up their Mana even on very long fights while others had to use wand from time to time. Now its not a factor anymore. As Fire or Frost i don't even cast Mana Gems anymore. And as Arcane you just use your Rotation to stay at 100% Mana so you never really have to worry about your mana either.

Overall, your design is pretty awesome. I like your idea of Temporal Rift, but it sounds more like an AoE attack to me. Maybe an AoE Slow, slowing down time for affected targets and thus slowing their movement speed, attack speed and castspeed by 50% in the process and inflicting damage to any target caught inside. Maybe combine it with Nether Tempest to, instead of putting the Rift in a certain area, it now can be placed on a target and anyone within range will be affected by the rift. This way, it's also effective against moving targets.

Personally, I imagine Temporal Rift as a purple lightning-like animation on and over your target, like those lightnings in Theramore crater.

(click to enlarge)

Originally Posted by Statix

The Mana Gem idea is pretty good, but would it have a cooldown and how much mana would it restore? 10% per charge? This would give Arcane Mages an unlimited amount of mana and would allow for a 100-60% burn phase, ABx4, Mana Gem, 100-60% burn phase rotation. The idea is interesting, but I never really liked the burnphase element of Arcane Mages.

Yeah, I think 7-10% mana per AC would be ok. It's getting buffs from Mastery after all, giving you more mana and allowing for more charges to be spent on damage rather than Mana Gem. Also the % of your current mana is irrelevant by this design, so you can be flexible with your rotation. You can deal damage right now and restore mana when there's downtime or keep it up waiting for the increased damage phase or add which has to be bursted down. Obviously you will want to have full mana before casting Arcana Power, but that's that.

Originally Posted by Statix

Still, what would that mean for Fire and Frost? Would it simply only change for Arcane?

The Arcane Charges mechanic is for Arcane only. Fire and Frost could have something else.

If they really change the class/spec design I'd really love to see one thing added. I always loves the AM animations and the spell itself for arcane. What I did not like this addon is the use of a dot component in my rotation.

I would really love to see something like this:

Arcane Instabilety: "Your hunger for arcane magic is overwhelming your body and dripping from you veines, these arcane splinters form around your body and are able to follow your other arcane created spells to the destined target and do harm upon impact"

Each "Arcane Splinter" does DMG equal to one AM missile or around that number and has a chance to rip off from you body whenever you cast arcane spells

The Animation could actually be exact the same than one missile... you will have some flowing arcane splinters around your body just like other flowing effects; Bone armor, the warlock green flowing things etc.

I don't think it would be that hard to balance either... and the most import thing is a unique thing...

YOu could even work your mastery around this spell. The more mastery you have, the more chance of proc there is. Setbony could evolve around it.

Purple lightning would be a cool effect. It's the main reason why I choose Sith Sorcerer in Star Wars The Old Republic.

If I had to redesign the Arcane Mage, the first thing I'd do it get rid of the 'maintain 100% mana for highest DPS' component. That's such a stupid design. Mana is there to spend, not to conserve. Also, I don't wanna worry about my mana. It shouldn't always be there, I don't mind using a Mana Gem every 2 minutes or Evocation, but to maintain my mana close to 100% is bullshit. I love Arcane Barrage, arguably my favorite Mage spell, but the current Arcane Blast design sucks.

I skipped the part of your new mastery design somehow. This new mastery would completely make maintaining your mana at 100% obsolete, which is good. To make Arcane Mages more like Rogues (using Arcane Charges as Combo Points and Arcane Missiles as a finisher) would be pretty interesting. Like I described in my previous post:

Originally Posted by Statix

Personally, I think Arcane Missiles should serve as the execute. It would remain a proc that costs no mana, but it no longer generates charges. As the proc, it can be used with all amounts of AC, increasing the damage accordingly. When the target goes below 20% health, it won't proc anymore, but instead it can be used as a 'finisher' with 4 AC. The 15 second cooldown would come into play here. Maybe this cooldown could be changed to make it work in a (ABx4, ArcBx1)x2 ABx4, AMx1 rotation - effectively giving Arcane Mages a haste cap. Arcane Power would allow Arcane Missiles to be used as a 'finisher' regardless of the target's health, in addition to giving you the maximum charges and keeping in at the maximum for 15 seconds, allowing a 15 second Arcane Missiles spam for massive damage.

What do you think of that idea? Arcane Mages would have a haste cap (that would allow that rotation to work perfectly with the cooldown on Arcane Missiles). After reaching that cap, the best secondary stat would be Mastery.

On first glance I like most of it, there is s decent mix of simplicity and complexity. What I don't like is having an execute option which is just meh for me personally. What I like a lot is the Explosion change. I'll comment a bit more later when the discussion gets going.

I agree here, an Execute for a Caster is meh overall. Especially since its casted.

While i like the idea you're going for, and it would greatly improve Arcanes AoE aswell from the looks.

I do think you really should have a basic guide for your Mastery bonus. say base 10% or something, and have Mastery increases this but x% per y points of Mastery.

Temporal Rift is the main concern i have with your idea though, as, while it COULD be powerful in a Raid setting, there would be no other use for it, and if you use it while soloing, your downtime would be alot higher than it would without it. This is one spell of yours that i'd change.. with this, i'd either switch it with your idea of Nether Tempest, or create a new aoe ability out of it, purely because, when i think of rift, i think of a wider area than just one target.

My idea would be something alone the lines of: Temporal Rift - 2(3 perhaps) sec cast time - Opens a magical rift above the group of enemies, pelting them with Arcane Shards for x damage over 10 sec.

If you MUST have an execute, it should be spammable, but only usable to a great effect under a certain %, something alone the lines of an Arcane Spike ability, which basically does an Ice Lance, without needing Fingers of Frost charges to be critical or do more damage, in that it does less than average damage on targets above 30% hp, but quadruples in damage under 30% hp.

Also, why not add a passive or two?

Brilliance Aura - Mana regen, anyone? They could have it restore the Mages BASE spirit per 5 seconds, meaning, it wouldnt be OP, would also give a Mage more raid utility, and obviously to stop stacking, make it apply once only.

Personally, I think Arcane Missiles should serve as the execute. It would remain a proc that costs no mana, but it no longer generates charges. As the proc, it can be used with all amounts of AC, increasing the damage accordingly. When the target goes below 20% health, it won't proc anymore, but instead it can be used as a 'finisher' with 4 AC. The 15 second cooldown would come into play here. Maybe this cooldown could be changed to make it work in a (ABx4, ArcBx1)x2 ABx4, AMx1 rotation - effectively giving Arcane Mages a haste cap. Arcane Power would allow Arcane Missiles to be used as a 'finisher' regardless of the target's health, in addition to giving you the maximum charges and keeping in at the maximum for 15 seconds, allowing a 15 second Arcane Missiles spam for massive damage.

What do you think of that idea? Arcane Mages would have a haste cap (that would allow that rotation to work perfectly with the cooldown on Arcane Missiles). After reaching that cap, the best secondary stat would be Mastery.

I think it will be hard to implement such a haste soft cap. If Arcane wants to have static haste level to maintain a certain rotation around a 15 second execute spell, but it still benefits from haste before the execute phase, then basically we have counterproductive execute phase mechanics. Also what about Time Warp cast when the boss has <20% health? What about trinket haste procs? What about adds that have to die? It would be too confusing a mechanic if Arcane Missiles proc suddenly put a 15 second cooldown on AM if you finish some add off.

I think it's better to have 2 spells - Arcane Missiles as a powerful proc that always benefits your rotation by being mana free, by building charges, dealing good single-target damage and good AOE damage with Arcane Explosion. And Temporal Rift - a spell you have to build up for. You can use or hold on to your AM procs or cast a single Arcane Barrage to drop 1 AC stack if you have to wait a couple more seconds for TR to come off cooldown. That would also give Arcane spec a unique haste thresholds, like with additional dot ticks, but all about the comfortable rotation around TR cooldown. If the carved in stone cooldown of Temporal Rift is causing problems, it could be made along the lines of current Frost Bomb, with haste proportionally reducing it.

Originally Posted by r3d3mpt10n

Temporal Rift is the main concern i have with your idea though, as, while it COULD be powerful in a Raid setting, there would be no other use for it, and if you use it while soloing, your downtime would be alot higher than it would without it. This is one spell of yours that i'd change.. with this, i'd either switch it with your idea of Nether Tempest, or create a new aoe ability out of it, purely because, when i think of rift, i think of a wider area than just one target.

Execute is just one of the ideas. No mage spec has any atm, so I thought it could spice things up. Also the main difference between normal rotation and execute would be spending charges on Temporal Rift only, excluding Arcane Barrage unless you need to move a lot. That is roughly twice as often than while doing normal rotation.

Also I disagree on uselessness of TR in settings other than raids. To cast TR you need 4 charges and you can build those with only 2 crit Arcane Blasts. Assuming Shatter and Frost Nova (and maybe Deep Freeze) stays baseline to mages in the next expansion, you can easily reach 4 charges with 2 AB casts. That's the burst opportunity in PVP and that's a way to kill mobs while questing - you kill the first one with TR and regenerate mana on the second mob with Mana Gem, waiting for TR to finish its cooldown.

Well, if anything, Temporal Rift could become mana free if cast on low-health target instead of no cooldown. Or there could be a proc instead - if Temporal rift is cast on a <20% health target, your next Mana Gem cast within 15 seconds will consume no Arcane Charges. That will speed up the rotation, like auto refreshing Rip with Ferocious Bite for Ferals on execute. It will also reduce downtime while questing.

+ If Temporal Rift doesn't click, it could be directed from the player and called Crackling Ja... erm... Sparkling Amethyst Lightning or w/e! =)

I do like the idea you're trying to get at, but the way you're trying to do it would, in my opinion make it a must use ability irregardless of the mobs HP.

I think that if you do an execute it should be one of two ways.

Similar to Soul Reaper or similar to Execute.

so either Low-medium damage above a certain HP, and having a bonus if used under a certain HP, in Soul Reapers case, more damage or a haste proc if it isnt used, or ust usable under a certain % unless special conditions are met (Sudden Death when it made Execute usable?)

To me, having 4 Arcane Charges isnt a special condition but just part of the rotation, having your version of Temporal Rift doing max damage at 100% of the time, irregardless of cooldown will mean it gets baked into the spec and becomes a standard ability that must be used on cooldown.

Speaking as if it was going to get implemented, i'd rather see your version as a proc based ability, similar to Arcane Missiles, granted it would feel a bit more like playing Frost, but it wouldnt make using the spell all the time Mandatory.

For EG, lets say it could proc off of your Overwhelming Power buff, increasing in chance at a higher stack.. say 20% per stack, also reducing the mana cost by said amount.

This would allow it to keep its higher damage, negate the cooldown and also keep it for a more Execute type move by allowing it only to be used under x% of the mobs HP otherwise.

Ok, let's scrap the whole execute thing. What if TR still had 15 seconds cooldown, was instant, cost only mana, but needed 3 stacks of Overwhelming Power to cast?

So basically you have 2 separate mechanics going on:
1) Building Arcane Charge by AB and AM and spending it on ABarr, maybe some other utility spells for it to feel even more like a resource.
2) Overwhelming Power buff from casting ABarr, stacks to 3, at 3 stacks allows you to cast Temporal Rift.

The most efficient strategy (achieved with number tweaks) would be to build up charge to 4, spend the rest of AM procs (or even go ABarr, AM, ABarr, AM), then unleash 3-4 ABarr and then an instant Temporal Rift. If the fight requires you to move or prevents building up 4 charges (e.g. in PVP), then you still can do ABarr, ABarr, Abarr, TR combo for damage. That way you can still utilize TR to the full benefit, but deal lower ABarr damage. The burst rotation doesn't change much - it'll be Arcane Power + cds, ABarr, ABarr, ABarr, TR, ABarr, AM, ABarr, <...>.

Instead of execute phase you can just expend all your mana by stacking 4 AC, then going ABarr, AB, ABarr, AM, ABarr, TR, ABarr, AM, ABarr, ABarr, ABarr, then Evocate if available and continue the rotation from 4 charges until the boss dies.

That would, in my opinion, make it a more interesting playstyle, as you could choose whether or not to use it or not... if you did, great a high damage spell, but you'd need to build your damage up again, but if you didnt you'd keep around the same amount of damage.

Going along with that, i've just had an interesting idea for a passive, and its already been used on another class, although i cannot remember which class its been used on.

Arcane Attunement: Your critical strikes with single target Arcane spells decrease the cooldown of your Arcane Power(other cooldowns aswell perhaps) by x seconds every time you do critical damage.

the X seconds could be debateable, i was thinking 2/3, however, it wouldn't make crit an essential stat as much as haste, and with your idea of Mastery, it would mean Arcane mages can stack whatever they would like. Haste obviously decreasing cast times, Crit increasing the chance of this proc, and Mastery increasing damage overall.

I get how Arcane Missiles can't be the execute/finisher ability. But I still think making Arcane Mages more like Rogues isn't such a bad idea. Arcane Charges could work like Combo Points and instead use 5. Temporal Rift could the finisher below 20% health and Arcane Barrage above 20% health.

Wouldn't it be amazing is Mages got an ability that used portals, e.g. the Mage casts Nether Tempest on a portal just above him, sending dozens of missiles through the portal. Another portal opens on a location selected by the Mage; all missiles sent into the portal above the above the Mage, exit at the target location.

Simply convert Blizzard into Arcane Storm (or w/e) and give it the above animation. I wouldn't mind Mages using more teleportation or portals to their advantage in their animations. Wouldn't it be amazing if Mages were given an ability that allowed them to teleport all raidmembers to another location within 30 yards?

Simply convert Blizzard into Arcane Storm (or w/e) and give it the above animation. I wouldn't mind Mages using more teleportation or portals to their advantage in their animations. Wouldn't it be amazing if Mages were given an ability that allowed them to teleport all raidmembers to another location within 30 yards?

See, thats what i'd consider something that could be called Temporal Rift, since you're using a rift to send the shards elsewhere.

Maybe have something like that as the Aoe ability, and Nether Tempest could be how Temporal Rift has been suggested... basically, just swap the names.

I really like the ideas you've come up with, sure sounds interesting. Bet I'd enjoy my mage more if this was the way of Arcane, especially with a new mastery, never been a big fan of the current one. But love your ideas, would be really neat. =D

Originally Posted by Statix

I wouldn't mind Mages using more teleportation or portals to their advantage in their animations. Wouldn't it be amazing if Mages were given an ability that allowed them to teleport all raidmembers to another location within 30 yards?

Would be neat in a way. Mages using portals and teleports more sure would be neat though. Not just for your standard transport spells but for actual neat attacks too

Last edited by Wishblade; 2013-05-06 at 02:56 PM.

"Reminds me of a dog. You stare at it while it's playing outside, running around in a circle, then stopping up, wagging with a wide "grin", jumping around until you call for the dog. Then it lowers its tail because it think it's done something bad and then you throw the ball, seeing the tail go straight into the air in bliss! ^^" - Gehco

Temporal Field - Summons a massive temporal field to the targetted location. For any player inside the field time moves faster, streching damage done to them.

An example: A raidboss deals 500k damage to all raidmembers over 10 seconds. With Temporal Field up, the damage would be 500k over 20 seconds.

Of course, this poses a programming problem; how do you speed up time for players inside the field or slow down time for other mechanics outside the field? Still, that sounds like an awesome raid cooldown.

Dimensional Portal - In the targeted area, portals spawn at random locations. These portals suck in a bit of energy, reduces overall damage done to players inside the are by 35%.

Still does not solve our survivability/raid cd problem.. Nice suggestion though, not my cup of tea, but better than the current.

It is actually really difficult to come up with balanced raid cooldowns to be honest... especially unique ones.. i do think they should address this though, and perhaps give us something new as a Raid Cooldown, but the only options really are an increased damage/crit/mastery buff for a certain amount of seconds

And for mage survivability, i dont know what you'd expect... im pretty sure Blizzard have stated that Mages are meant to have a Glass Cannon type feel about them.

But otherwise Ice Block, possibly two talents from the level 30 and 60 tiers (i count cold snap aswell since it heals, and resets Iceblock)

Hell, even Incanters ward could be classes as survivability if you talent it.

However, i can see the concern, being that the majority of them you need to talent for... so i assume what you meant would be baseline survivability?